Tag: Tropes vs. Women

Why it took so long

I would like to apologize for how long it took me to get the second part out. I am writing this so that anyone who may come across my video who is not familiar with me or what I do can have a better understanding about my response.

I will answer this simply here in the beginning so people do not see a tl;dr and click away.

When I recorded this in June I was only working two, very small part-time jobs. In August one of my part time jobs started again. Shortly after that I was offered a full-time position in retail at a different store. The position pays a bit more than what I was making at my other part time retail establishment.

I did what I had to do because I need the money. To put in in perspective, they recently raised the minimum wage in D.C. and I am making below minimum wage.

But that is what one does. Life and time took over and I had less time to work on videos. I would love to have more time to work on videos. That is not possible at the moment. Again, I am sorry it took so long and I appreciate everyone who supported me. I probably will not create something like this again because it is too time intensive.

Further explaining

At that time most of the responses were editorials and commentaries on her or her video. No one included any research for their response videos. I wanted to make a response that was as close to hers in quality as possible because I knew I could pull some of it off. Frankly, I think I did a decent job considering I did this by myself with my own resources. I did not ask for donations to make this response. I created a lot of the visuals on my own. Every sound, animation, and and cut was done by me. Some of the animations in the initial intro and some transitions were the only things I did not create in Premiere or After Effects, but I did alter them slightly for my purposes.

For those who are unaware, yes I posted a Kickstarter for a different series when I posted the first response. I used Kickstarter because I knew I would never meet my goal. My point in posting it was that even though someone can create a product that is close to Sarkeesian’s in production quality, that it would never get noticed because I am a white, straight, man. Honestly, if you add forty pounds and acne to Anita, you would have never known who she was. Part of her success is a result of her being attractive and don’t fool yourself if you think it is not.

Holding some dumb people’s hands

I didn’t post an explanation here with part one, because I did not think I would have to do so. As the day goes on this will be updated and I will edit this in greater detail for explanation. I have to leave to work soon, so I will not have enough time to update this in the manner I want to.

I honestly cannot believe I have to explain things for the audience. Yes, my response requires thinking from my viewers.

One, I do not disagree with Sarkeesian’s premise in her video. You shouldn’t disagree with her. Video games do negatively portray females most of the time. It’s a fact and it is not one that people should not try and say it is okay.

Two, the fact she raised a lot of money has nothing to do with her thesis. If she is correct, then she is correct whether she raised $100 or $100,000. If you mention how much she raised then you creating a fallacy.

I find the “thesis” of hers to be extremely weak. It is similar to saying “War can be bad for some people.”

It’s weak because there is not much to prove because the reality is self-evident. Western culture can be sexist. TV, advertisements, films, magazines, and social media are all sexist. I say this sarcastically, “You mean a culture that is sexist would produce sexist video games???! No Waaaaay!!1111″

What she is trying to say with her series and what she used as evidence is what causes me to create a response. I haven’t watched the other three responses she made because I am sure I would get incensed with her “scholarly” research.

I do have issues with what she used to connect and explain her thesis. If I were to say “war can be bad for some people because of crisp broccoli, dirty bathtubs, and silent farts” then you might see what I mean. What she used to support her thesis has little to do with it.

I included games with women that were produced in the first part because I was illustrating the point that she could have chosen ANY other game but Dinosaur Planet to discuss a heroine. The games I mentioned were made and you can play them if you can find them. When she used Dinosaur Planet as support, she withheld facts from her audience and made it appear to be a different game that what it was intended to be.

She did the same thing with Andromeda’s tale, King Kong, Tarzan, and the rest of her support points. If you are paying attention to the parts I use that mirror hers, I am explaining why what she chose does not support her thesis in the way she presents it. King Kong had nothing to do with a damsel in its original form. Jane was never taken by an ape in Tarzan.

So what the hell is she talking about?

I included the parts about story and its history as a counter to what she was using as support for this motif.

Below is a works cited list of most of what I read for this response. No, I did not use everything I read nor did some of it make it into the final cut. I probably will have to come back and update this because WordPress will destroy the MLA Formatting.

Salter, Anatasia, and Bridget Blodgett. “Hypermasculinity & Dickwolves: The Contentious Role of Women in the New Gaming Public.” Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media/ September (2012): 404-416. Print.